Beast Taming: I Have an Immortal Mansion

Chapter 296 - 236: Sea Beast Essence Blood

Jinbao approached Fang Qingyuan. Seeing its master’s slightly ethereal form, it nudged its furry head forward.

Fang Qingyuan understood what Jinbao wanted. He reached out one hand to rub Jinbao’s big head while, with the other, he magically pulled a pile of food from a distant building and brought it before the beast.

Seeing the delicious treats, Jinbao sat on the ground and began its performance. It held a Purple Bamboo Shoot in one paw and a piece of Tier One Deer Meat in the other, continuously stuffing them into its mouth.

Just then, the Crimson Young Bird also approached Fang Qingyuan, letting out soft, "CHIRP CHIRP," sounds.

With Jinbao right there, the Crimson Young Bird didn’t dare fight it for food. Otherwise, Jinbao wouldn’t go easy on it and would surely deliver a hard slap.

Seeing the Crimson Young Bird’s pitiful expression, Fang Qingyuan took some food from Jinbao’s pile and offered it to the bird.

Jinbao let out a low growl, as if threatening the Crimson Young Bird. The next moment, however, Jinbao received a solid smack from Fang Qingyuan.

Instantly, Jinbao’s ears drooped. It lowered its head and ate its own food, no longer growling at the young bird.

After resolving the conflict between the two little ones, Fang Qingyuan turned his attention to Yinbao.

Yinbao’s body had now grown to be five *zhang* across. Even among other Flying Manta Rays, it couldn’t be considered small.

Over the years, Yinbao had been well-fed in the Beast Cages of Celestial Gate Mountain. Due to Fang Qingyuan’s status, the disciples guarding the Beast Cages treated Yinbao like royalty.

As a result, Yinbao had grown plump and wide over the years, looking quite bloated.

Now that it was no longer in the Beast Cages with someone to care for it, Yinbao had been having a hard time adjusting these past few days.

Seeing Yinbao circling in the sky, Fang Qingyuan took out a pile of small dried fish to feed it.

These were made from sun-dried Tier One Spirit Fish, and Fang Qingyuan had a large stock of them. Not only could they serve as rations for Yinbao, but they could also be his own food in times of hardship.

However, the dried fish were clearly not as tasty as live ones. Seeing Yinbao’s lack of enthusiasm as it ate, Fang Qingyuan thought, ’Maybe I should go catch some sea fish for Yinbao.’

The Iron Wind Islands were Yinbao’s ancestral home. There were even wild Flying Manta Rays here, and the fish in the sea should be perfectly to Yinbao’s taste.

With this in mind, after finishing his chores in the Immortal Mansion and setting the three little ones back to work farming, he quietly left the Immortal Mansion and returned to his physical body.

Opening his eyes, Fang Qingyuan took out his Pill Furnace and began today’s refinement.

But, as expected, this batch of Blood Qi Pills was another failure.

After analyzing the reasons, Fang Qingyuan emotionlessly dumped out the dregs. He looked at the remaining Demon Beast Essence Blood and ultimately drew another portion into the Pill Furnace.

’I’ll just try one more time today. I’m idle anyway.’

The Demon Beast Essence Blood Fang Qingyuan was using came from a Tier One Middle Grade Big-horned Moon Deer. This deer blood was highly nourishing, and when combined with medicinal herbs like ginseng, the resulting Blood Qi Pills would be very potent upon successful refinement.

This time, Fang Qingyuan was much more cautious. He kept the lessons from his previous failures firmly in mind, striving to avoid the pitfalls he’d fallen into before.

However, something like Alchemy perhaps depended a bit on luck.

When the smell of something burning wafted from the Pill Furnace, the corner of Fang Qingyuan’s mouth twitched in annoyance.

He expertly removed the dregs, then picked up the bottle of Demon Beast Essence Blood and began to pour more into the Pill Furnace.

...

Half a day later, Fang Qingyuan was staring intently at a crystalline, translucent ball of blood inside the Pill Furnace.

A few breaths later, a rich fragrance wafted out. Fang Qingyuan’s spirits lifted, and with a joyful expression, he divided the ball of blood into longan-sized pellets and stored them in a jade bottle.

’Success! I’ve finally refined the Blood Qi Pills.’

Looking at the bottle of Blood Qi Pills, Fang Qingyuan felt a pang of bitterness. For this one bottle, he had attempted no fewer than twenty batches today.

The first few batches had a distinct burnt smell, the middle ones were full of impurities, and only this final batch met the requirements described in the jade slip.

A rich fragrance with no obvious smell of blood.

After the initial joy faded, Fang Qingyuan looked at the pile of ruined pills beside him and shook his head.

’If I keep up this success rate, I’ll go broke.’

’But all beginnings are difficult. I’ve already memorized the feeling of this success, so my success rate should go up a notch the next time I refine Blood Qi Pills.’

Now that the Blood Qi Pills were successfully refined, he needed to find a guinea pig to test them. Otherwise, he wouldn’t know if there were any unexpected effects.

At this thought, Fang Qingyuan’s divine soul once again entered the Immortal Mansion. A quarter of an hour later, a smile returned to his face.

After eating a Blood Qi Pill, the Crimson Young Bird showed no signs of diarrhea for a long time. In fact, it seemed much more energetic, and the blood qi within its body had increased slightly.

Blood Qi Pills could promote the growth of Spirit Beasts and were quite popular with them.

After feeding one to the Crimson Young Bird, Fang Qingyuan looked at the jade bottle and saw that five pills remained.

A single batch of Blood Qi Pills usually yielded five to eight pills. Depending on the Alchemist’s technique and the refinement process, the final count could vary significantly.

Fang Qingyuan had produced six pills this time, which was about average.

Successfully refining the Blood Qi Pills gave Fang Qingyuan a good deal of confidence. But when he wanted to continue, he found that he was out of Demon Beast Essence Blood.

He had bought this bottle of Demon Beast Essence Blood back in Qinan City, thinking it would last him two or three months. However, he had practiced Alchemy so many times today that his consumption of the essence blood had far exceeded his expectations.

No matter. Materials like Demon Beast Essence Blood were never in short supply in the Cultivation Realm; you could buy them whenever you needed them.

As it happened, Fang Qingyuan hadn’t had a chance to explore the local market yet. So, he cleaned up after his alchemy, changed his clothes, altered his appearance, and leisurely walked out the door.

...

The market of the Iron Wind Islands was divided into four main sections. The one in the inner city was the most luxurious, but the place Fang Qingyuan chose to visit now was the wharf on the west side of the Iron Wind Main Island.

In the distance, hundreds of huge sea vessels were moored on the water. Each one was a behemoth, with even the smallest being over twenty *zhang* long.

There were even ships over a hundred *zhang* in length, looking like colossal beasts lying prone on the sea’s surface.

Surrounding these sea vessels were a number of specially-shaped, slender flying shuttles.

The sea vessels were Beast Hunting Ships, while the shuttles served as their escorting Flying Boats.

Sea beasts were ferocious and enormous. If a Cultivator captured a particularly large one, it wouldn’t fit in their storage bag.

That was why the sea vessels were needed for transport, while the Flying Boats patrolled around the Beast Hunting Ships to ensure their safe return to port.

Now, as Beast Hunting Ships of various sizes returned to port, one deep-sea demon beast after another was brought to the docks.

Most of these demon beasts were still alive upon their return, but a miserable fate awaited them.

Fang Qingyuan walked up to one of the Beast Hunting Ships and spoke to a broker at the bow who was calling out to passing Cultivators:

"What kind did you catch today? How much are you selling the Sea Beast Essence Blood for?"

Seeing Fang Qingyuan inquire about the price, the broker beamed.

"Senior, you’ve come at the perfect time! Our ’Haichang’ just caught a Tier Two Lower Grade Deep Sea Python. It’s being butchered right now, so the essence blood is still fresh. If you buy now, I can give you a price of eight hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones per *tael*."

"That expensive?"

Fang Qingyuan frowned instinctively. The essence blood of a Tier Two Lower Grade Deep Sea Python was a bit of a waste for his Blood Qi Pills.

Seeing Fang Qingyuan’s hesitation, the broker stepped forward and tried his best to push the sale. But a moment later, he watched Fang Qingyuan’s departing figure, speechless.

’A Foundation Establishment Cultivator who thinks eight hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones is too expensive? What a pauper.’

Fang Qingyuan ignored the man. He glanced at the ’Haichang’s’ fifty-*zhang*-long hull and wisely walked toward a smaller Beast Hunting Ship that was only about twenty *zhang* long.

This Beast Hunting Ship looked much weaker, so perhaps it would have the Tier One essence blood he needed.